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Hello, I recently signed up for once weekly adult Irish dance classes after a twenty-year hiatus from the sport. I was a competitive dancer and was Prizewinner. I left just before competing in the Oirechtas.

Now that I am back, I have the urge to compete again. I have already read through some of the great information here about what categories to enter into (or not to), but my question is, where do I go to learn steps/sets as an adult for the competitions? I'd like to do both hard and soft. The school that I am taking classes at now is a traditional school, and the experienced adult class that I am in is very relaxed, so this would not really be an option. I have reached out to some competitive schools in my area (Albany, NY) but haven't heard anything back yet. Do they only teach steps to the younger generation? Am I supposed to learn these on my own? I am too fresh in now, I think, to choreograph this by myself. I look forward to your advice.

I‘m planning to compete at NAIDC, but coming from Europe it‘s not yet fully confirmed. However, the hotels seem to go super fast and need to be booked already next month and no refunds? In case I can‘t make the trip, can I just transfer my room to someone else? I think I‘ve seen people do that in FB groups but I‘m not sure. Just a bit nervous to book a hotel for hundreds of bucks if it‘s for nothing

Well the topic of Nationals has come up in our school and my first thought is how am I going to fly with my dress? Right now I have the Prime Designs dress bag, which obviously is too big for flying, but I'll be damned if I check my bag. The options are:

• Strategic pleat-management to fit in the carry-on
• Give it to someone driving to DC (It's a 12.5 hour drive for me, so I prefer to fly).
• Fit it into a standard garment bag and use that as my carry-on

I typically travel with a backpack and a carry-on, so I'm leaning toward strategic pleating, but I am open to other options!

How does one even start id’ing the stones to pick up some replacements? I’m not too worried about the smaller ones but there’s a few pear shaped ones that are not missing that would def be obvious if missing. And a few half pearl looking ones in grey that may look obvious to some people. Help?

Share something from the past week that you're proud of, something that made you happy, or a goal you met. Brag about it!

This is our first year in Irish tap (and the first year it’s ever been offered in my little community). My daughter has outgrown her shoes. I had a friend who happened to be in a town 5 hours away where there was a studio, and I sent her foot measurements and picked up a pair of Rutherford’s 13.5. Those worked well for four months until her feet grew. I am going to have to shop online for her shoes. The nearest store would be hours and hours away. We live in a very rural area. Looking at Corr’s, she’d be about a size 3.5. In Rutherford’s, she’d be a 1.5. Is it normal for there to be such variety in sizes between brands? I’d hate to buy the wrong size and have to go through sending them back, only to wait for the right size to ship.

I started Irish dance pretty late like at 14 and I'm 17 now, so it makes sense that I'm kind of the odd one out among everyone else there who have all been dancing together since they were little, but recently an incident happened. I don't want to go into too much detail but basically I learned that almost everybody else has been talking poorly about me behind my back the whole time, basically making fun of everything I do/say in class. I mean I can deal with it but I honestly have enough going on in my life right now and while I love Irish dance, this is not what I signed up for. I'm not sure if I should talk to my teacher about it or leave it be.

Been only to one regular feis and going to a first blackout feis in February. What kind of hair accessories can my kid wear? I normally put a plain pink bow in her hair. I looked at some pics from previous years and I’m confused as some girls seem to have blingy accessories. She normally wears a short sleeved leotard and skirt. Is shirt sleeve ok as well? Shes 9 going on 10.

Where do I find the results for the 2024 WIDA worlds, including number of competitors? Google is being very unhelpful, their website only has results up to 2018, and it’s not on the entry portal site (unless I’m missing something). TIA!

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Hi! I'm a retired dancer and a family member has asked me to perform solo at a very small event with a social dancing group. It's super low pressure and really just for fun, but since it'll be just me dancing, choreography is a challenge. I have no idea what the floor situation will be so I'm planning on doing softshoe, and I'm definitely going with a reel since I can incorporate lots of threes, sevens, and clapping breaks to fill space (I'm not in shape to do back to back competition steps the way I would have been 10 years ago!)

I'd love to incorporate either jig or slip jig as well for some variety. Since two separate songs is a lot of time to fill, I was wondering if anyone knew of any tunes that switched halfway between reel and jig, or reel and slip jig? Any ideas are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!! ❤️☘️

Hi!

My daughter loves to watch Irish Step though she's too young to enroll in class at the moment. She enjoys the YouTube ballet class videos and exercise videos, especially ones that feature Disney princesses.

I can't seem to find anything similar for Irish Step so was wondering if anyone has any hidden gems? She will watch kid performances and follow along, but I'd love to start introducing her to some basic concepts like they do with the ballet classes.

Thanks!

Does anyone know the name of the Irish dance at 8:43, and then again at 9:00?

20 Dance Styles From Around The World

It's not Irish step dancing or Irish set dancing!

I am getting married and would love to order some white ghillies... They have been impossible to find! I am going to check out a Feis this weekend as well. Any suggestions?

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Hi everyone.

I used to dance as a child and teenager then stopped for a few years, went back in my early 20s then stopped again. I'm now 34 and in 2023 decided to start again after 10 years of no dancing. I went to an adults "fun and fitness" class which included all skill levels.

At my first (and only) lesson my brain went "oh yes, I remember these steps, let's go!" and I danced probably a little too much too soon as my body went "oh no we are not strong enough for this anymore" and I dislocated a bone in my foot. A couple months later I went and broke my (other) foot in a fall, unrelated to dancing. That was a bad time.

Anyway, all that was over a year ago and I'm all healed up now. I'd like to start just dancing at home because I miss it so much. My hard shoes and ghillies still fit so that's a bonus.

Does anyone have any tips for me to start up again by myself, bearing in mind I will need to slowly build up strength in my legs, ankles and feet so I don't go and injure myself again? Are there any good websites or YouTube videos for "beginner" dancers that I can start with and work my way back up? At this stage I'm not interested in going back to competitions, I just want to be able to enjoy my dancing and make sure I'm practicing the right way, keeping good form etc.

I want to get back into Irish dancing but I majorly dislike my former organization (CLRG) and want to find new competitions for Open Platform or Sean nos style.

I only quit last year. Let me know where I would find websites for feiseanna, how to register, etc. What’s the difference between Open Platform and CLRG?

Where do I find the Sean nos Fleadh & how do I register for it?

We have finally had enough with our current dance school. We cant keep paying for classes that our child says she's not dancing in (for 2 hours at a pop), but instead is sitting in while other kids are getting their new individualized choreography. (We've been paying for 5 hrs/week) She tells us that the teacher is snapping at her all the time, and has been doing so for MONTHS (She didn't tell us this until recently, she thought she would get in trouble with us. Its not the yelling to do steps over the music, but sounds like its angry, targeted snapping. I heard it at our last class when my daughter asked if she should be changing her shoes to her heavy ones. A simple yes was expected, not the tirade she got.) When she sees that teacher's car, she wants to just go home and skip class. So, that's it. We're done with this CLRG teacher/school owner.

My problem - she wants to keep dancing. The school we want to get her into (And do the 6 month ban with) doesn't have any openings right now. And won't have any till the summer. (I would happily pay for privates, or an online version only if I could do that right now with that school...)

What can I do with my 7 year old Prizewinner/Novice dancer to help her keep her skills up (or even advance them) while waiting for this other school to have openings? Are there any online programs that will help her not lose what she has right now that you can recommend?

Looking into jig shoes and wondering if anyone knows why the Hullachan Prestige Jig Shoes are discontinued. I have Hullachan ghillies and absolutely love them, and was looking into their jig shoes. Sadly it appears I've waited too long to buy a pair within the US. I have Rutherford Jig Shoes right now and I just honestly don't feel like they're the quality of several years ago - they feel much more 'bare bones.' Would Fays or Corrs have an equivalent to Hullachan?

Comment what you need the most help with:

Hi, im 21 (turning 22) female from ireland who would love to get back into dancing and to compete. Just unsure where I would stand, as in how I could get back into it ?? I haven’t danced since I was 15, and only just before I quit I started getting into competitions. I haven’t wont any of my meangrads at a feis, so I feel like if i went back now I wouldnt be able to progress into the proper major competitions (Ardgrad or watever its called i cant remember), since there would be no competition at a feis in meangrad at my age. Hopefully someone understands by what I mean by all this lol. Or am i too old to even go back at all I’m unsure, and I dont know where I could go for lessons.

In your opinion, what sets a prizewinner and a prelim dancer (or PW dancer who is ready for prelim) apart?

Share something from the past week that you're proud of, something that made you happy, or a goal you met. Brag about it!

Share something from the past week that you're proud of, something that made you happy, or a goal you met. Brag about it!